Hi guys. (Hides from screaming fans). I know. I know. I'm horrible. I promised this story would be up June 1st... June 1st 2016. The short explanation is that Civil War and the whole Hive stuff upset me and I stopped liking Marvel for a while. Spider-Man has restored my faith, and the first four episodes of season 4 have been good, so I'm slowly getting back into it. I started writing last week, and decided to post.

I don't have the whole fic done like I did with the first two, but honestly if I'm going to keep up the motivation to write I need to have the outside pressure of readers. So please, if there is anyone who still wants to read this story, read, review, and motivate me to update. Right now the plan is to update every Saturday until I write the whole thing, and then update every day, but that might change. I'm going to college next month, so who knows what will happen then.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling. I'm sorry for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

Daisy Stark typed furiously on her laptop. Her eyes scanned the screen in front of her, looking for any typo that might mess up the whole program. Things were going smoothly enough, she just needed to not get distracted. If she could just stay focused for a few more seconds…

A Skype call came in, breaking Daisy's concentration, and causing the program she'd been running to fail. She cursed whoever was calling her, and then cursed again when she realized it was Steve. Daisy did her best to straighten out her hair and clothes, and then answered the call from her 'boyfriend'.

Steve looked much the same as he always did. He was calling from his smartphone, apparently he'd caught on to modern technology quite well, and in the background Daisy could see the Washington Monument. She looked down at the clock; it was only a little past six in DC. "You're up early," she told Steve, taking a sip of her coffee.

Steve raised an eyebrow, "You are too, though from the look of it you're just up late. It's three AM there Daisy, shouldn't you be asleep?"

Daisy scowled at him. He was not her father. Her father was asleep in the other bedroom. "I'm fine. It doesn't really matter what time I go to sleep at; I don't have anything I need to wake up for."

"I know that it's just…" Steve trailed off, taking in Daisy's appearance. She was a mess. Her hair was longer than he'd ever seen it, but greasy and tangled. The bags around her eyes were darker than her eyes themselves, and he remembered her wearing the same shirt when he'd spoken to her two days ago. In short Daisy looked like a homeless train-wreck, but her lack of a home wasn't the problem.

"I'm just worried about you Daisy," Steve admitted with a sigh. "And Nat told me that she saw you were online this late all the time, and I'm just worried. You need… you need some sun."

Daisy looked out her window. It was dark of course, but there were enough streetlights for her to see the rolling hills of Malibu's sandy beaches. She lived in one of the sunniest places in the world. "I go out on the porch every day and sit in the sun," Daisy reassured him. "A whole half hour at least. I'm fine. And even if I wasn't you don't need to worry about me. I'm not your responsibility."

"You're my girlfriend Daisy. I care about you," Steve argued, sounding indefinitely frustrated with Daisy. She didn't exactly blame him for being frustrated, actually she encouraged it. She'd been trying to run him off for months now. Maybe it was finally time for her to do it. She'd been selfishly delaying the hard blows, but she was exhausted, and she wasn't thinking straight, so why the Hell not?

"You're not my boyfriend Steve, not really. You haven't come to see me in months. And you only ever call to lecture me about not taking care of myself. That's not a relationship. I have enough people controlling my every movement. I don't need you too."

The words stung Steve, it was clear, and Daisy was bitterly satisfied. That had to be enough to send him running. In the end it was the best thing she could do for Steve. She cared about him, of course she cared about him, and it was because she cared about him that he needed to just leave her alone. He was Captain America, the world's symbol of goodness and righteousness. He couldn't afford to be distracted by coddling Daisy.

"Fine, I'm not going to fight you," Steve told her, biting his lip and clenching his fist. "But when you're ready to begin living again call me. And until then I might not be your father, but I do work with him. If I have to tell him you're driving yourself into the ground then I will."

Daisy rolled her eyes. He could play the righteous one, but he was just being obnoxious. "I live with him Steve. I don't think you need to tattle on me for him to know what I look like. He doesn't care if I'm up at three AM. You shouldn't either. Now goodbye. I'm sure I'll end up speaking to you again, but I'm done with your lecture."

Steve shook his head, but hung up without another word. A part of Daisy wanted to sob. As much as they hadn't been a proper couple in months it devastated her to know that she just well and truly broke up with Steve, possibly the kindest and most compassionate person ever to be born. It was in both their best interests, but it hurt. Still Daisy didn't cry. She wasn't going to let herself get all upset over a little breakup. She and Steve would never have worked out. They were just too different… or too similar. One way or another they were both too devoted to their work to have the time or energy to be in a relationship.

That wasn't exactly true of course. Daisy had nothing but time, though she certainly didn't have energy. She didn't even have a job to be addicted to, not technically, not anymore. She'd be lucky if anyone would ever hire her again. Most likely she'd just spend the rest of her life working for her father, going out of her mind with boredom. Not that that really was possible either, because Daisy had already lost her mind.

A baby's cry sounded from the next room, and Daisy went to check up on little Maria. The three-month-old began to wave her arms at the sight of her, and Daisy smiled widely. There was nothing in this world that couldn't be fixed by Maria's little smile. Nothing. Even Maria's constant crying and fussing was offset by her beautiful little smile.

Daisy picked up the baby, and Maria stopped crying completely. After checking her diaper, Daisy decided that most likely Maria had just been lonely. "I know exactly how you feel," Daisy told the little girl, bouncing her as they swayed. "But there is no reason to cry. Being lonely isn't a bad thing. If you're lonely than you're not hurting anyone, and no one is hurting you. Never worry about being alone, okay pumpkin? There is nothing wrong with alone."

Maria just kept smiling, completely oblivious to Daisy's life advice. Daisy didn't mind though. Maria would understand someday. She'd understand someday and hopefully live a much happier life than Daisy ever did. Daisy would make sure Maria lived a much happier life than she ever did.

"How come only one of us looks like a new mother, and it's you?"

Daisy turned, surprised by the sound of her step-mother's voice. Pepper Stark looked tired, but not nearly as tired as most first-time mothers would be after three months. Of course she believed that Maria had been sleeping through the night for weeks, and so it was easy for her to rest. The same could not be said of Daisy, who'd rerouted the baby monitor to her. There was no reason Pepper or her dad had to wake up whenever Maria started to fuss. Not when Daisy was going to be awake anyways.

"Daisy, you need to go to sleep," Pepper pleaded, taking Maria from her sister and giving the girl a stern look. "You've been wearing the same clothes for three days now, and I can smell it. I know this is hard on you but you need to take care of yourself."

Daisy shook her head, "I really don't, but I'm fine Pepper. I'm really fine. I've just been working on something. Nothing illegal, I promise, but there are just things I've been looking into that…"

"Daisy. Go to sleep. Anything you've been working on will still be here in ten hours. If it's that important you can just tell your father about it. I'm sure he'll check it out, to put your mind at rest."

Pepper put far too much faith in her husband. Daisy knew her father wouldn't check it out; she'd already asked him to. Each time he just told her that there was nothing to look into, that being cooped up just had her anxious. Daisy disagreed, but there was nothing she could do to convince him otherwise without more proof. And she'd been so close to finding that proof. If Steve hadn't called her she found finally have got everything she needed to prove to her dad, to S.H.I.E.L.D, to everyone that Centipede was a real issue worthy of their attention. She wasn't crazy. She really wasn't. They just needed to believe her.

"Daisy, I'm not leaving until you go to bed," Pepper told her, voice stern and unwavering. "Take a shower, put on pajamas, and sleep until your body won't let you sleep anymore. You can't figure anything out if you're not thinking straight."

Daisy knew that of course, but it didn't mean she was any more inclined to go to sleep. Pepper's death stare, however, was enough to get Daisy to shut her laptop and listen to her Step-mother's directives. Pepper had cared for Daisy as if they were related for years now, and she was the one person who had yet to let Daisy down. Daisy wasn't about to let her down.

Daisy turned on the shower, allowing it to fill the bathroom with steam as she undressed. She wasn't stupid; she knew she looked like shit. Her ribs showed how little she ate, and all the muscle she'd built up over years of training was disappearing. She'd shut down and she just didn't care. What did it matter if she was ugly and unhealthy? It wasn't like anyone saw her. It wasn't like being beautiful and strong would help her situation. It wasn't worth the effort. All that mattered to Daisy at the moment was proving that Centipede was a threat, and she didn't need Vitamin C to do that.

Daisy finished stripping, struggling to pull her jeans over the stupid tracker on her ankle. She wanted to scream and smash the damn thing, but doing so would simply result in her getting in even more trouble. At least, in the end, she wasn't in the Sandbox. They could easily have locked her up in a tiny cell with no windows and no visitors. Daisy was relatively free. She could receive visitors. She had full access to the internet, which wasn't particularly bright on anyone's part. She got to live in the most beautiful, high-tech, house in the world, surrounded by her family. Daisy knew she could have had it a lot worse. In the end, what was a little house arrest?